Stray
by RadiantBeam
Summary: Kaori has always known she isn't really Saya's Chevalier. [Saya x Kaori][Oneshot, slight AU]


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Blood+, or Saya and Kaori. I just own the one-shot idea, which is still pretty weird for a story.

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**Stray**

Kaori has always known she isn't really Saya's Chevalier.

Her memories after becoming a Chevalier are dim, but she does remember two things—shockingly blue eyes, and the feel of gentle, cool lips against her own, blood slipping down her throat. The girl she woke to had reddish-brown eyes, and that was when she knew.

Saya never knew why she let the girl live.

It was obvious she was one of Diva's, but still young—she figured they'd stumbled upon her only a week or so after she'd been given Diva's blood, because her wounds were still slow to heal and she still needed to sleep. She was bleeding to death, and instead of killing her like she _should _have, Saya took the girl and ran back to Haji.

Saya still doesn't know why Diva abandoned Kaori. Perhaps the reason was that as far as Chevaliers go, Kaori seemed to be something of a late bloomer. Perhaps in Diva's twisted way of thinking, injuring the girl and leaving her there to die (Saya knew that Diva herself or one of her other Chevaliers had inflicted the wounds, as a Chevalier was slow to recover from a wound inflicted by their queen or those who shared the blood of their queen) would slow her older sister down.

She'll probably never know the true answer, but she knows that she's never regretted letting Kaori live and taking her as her own.

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Kaori is Diva's Chevalier.

It's a truth she can't ignore, though she's been with Saya and Haji for as long as she can remember being a Chevalier. She always suspected, of course, but she knows the truth when during a battle Diva runs her sword through her and it has no effect.

It's instinct, something deep inside her chest that calls for Diva, for her brothers, and she fights like hell to ignore it every day. It's an easier battle, however, when Haji plays his cello or Saya leans against her.

Kaori is Diva's Chevalier. It's instinct, if nothing else.

In Saya's mind, Kaori is _her _Chevalier.

She knows that Diva's blood courses through Kaori's veins, she knows that Diva gave her the bloody kiss that changed her. But Diva also abandoned her, Diva left her behind, and Saya found her. It's a game of finders keepers, losers weepers. Childish in a way, but it works in her mind.

Kaori's body and heart belong to her as well; or more her heart. Saya has never taken advantage of Kaori, though she knows the other girl is willing. Saya loves her too much to do that just yet.

Kaori is _her _Chevalier. She was never Diva's, and in Saya's mind she never will be.

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Kaori knows she is useless.

Even though she is Saya's Chevalier in heart and deed, she is Diva's Chevalier by blood, and she knows that Diva's blood is poisonous to Saya and vice versa. That is the reason she can never give Saya her blood the way Haji does, and that is why she never drinks from Saya the way Haji sometimes does.

(She actually tries to avoid drinking blood at all if she can for as long as she can, but Saya always finds out sooner or later and forcefully feeds her blood via mouth-to-mouth. Not her blood, of course, but it's still mouth-to-mouth.)

Because she can't give Saya her blood, Kaori tries and makes up for it the only way she can—she fights fiercely, defending Saya with all the strength she possesses. She only lost control once and took on her full Chevalier form, and that was because she was trying to protect Saya. She figures if she can't let Saya use her blood, she'll let her use her body.

Saya has never thought of Kaori as useless.

Kaori has always occupied a special part of Saya's heart, and she probably always will. That is why Saya aches every time she sees Kaori fighting so hard, trying to make up for her weakness in blood. That is why Saya screamed her name when she transformed and lost herself, and that is why Saya held her in her arms and kissed away her tears when she regained control and realized what she'd done.

Saya loves Kaori for everything she is—her strengths and her flaws, her best and her worst. She loves her simply because she is _Kaori_, and that is all there is to it. Blood and fighting skill mean nothing to her. To her, Kaori is anything but useless, because Kaori is the one who makes her feel human.

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Kaori has loved Saya from the very beginning.

Sometimes she wonders if the first stirrings of her attraction were a Chevalier instinct, being that she is Diva's Chevalier by blood and if she were male she'd be compatible with Saya. She _does _know, however, that the moment she woke she was drawn to Saya, and she doesn't exactly know why.

Sometimes she thinks she knows the answer, when Saya kisses her or just holds her close, but it always eludes her at the last moment, and she doesn't particularly mind.

Saya doesn't know exactly when she fell in love with Kaori.

Sometimes she thinks it was the first time Kaori killed, and she sought Saya out later that night, needing warm arms and a shoulder to cry on. Other times she thinks it was the first time Kaori saw snow and caught a snowflake in her hand, looking at her with a grin on her face. All she knows is that she loves Kaori now, and it's enough.

Saya also knows sooner or later Diva will come back, and when she does she'll want to reclaim what is rightfully hers by blood, what she abandoned long ago like a broken doll. And Saya knows that when she does, she'll fight back like she's never fought before, if only to defend her right to kiss Kaori, to touch her, to love her when she rightfully belongs to her sister.

Kaori may be Diva's Chevalier by blood, but she is Saya's Chevalier by heart. Saya will not give her up without a fight.

It's as simple as that.

**The End**

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... I suppose I owe an explaination for this, huh?

Well, originally this was based off an idea of Kaori being Diva's Chevalier right from the beginning, but somehow it evolved into this short little story about Kaori actually being _abandoned _by Diva after being changed and then being found and taken in by Saya and becoming her Chevalier. So far I only plan to keep this a one-shot, but you never know.

Read and review, please!


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